The Walker
by Hakon
Summary: He walks, he has nothing else to do. He walks to forget, to move on, to leave everything behind him. He can't leave everything behind though, it's not who he is. He tries to handle what has become of him, but he always gets lost in his musings, his thoughts.


Yoski peoples of the internet and Fanfiction! My name be Hakon, but you call me A, it's what I generally go by, or you can call me Hakon if you want. Makes no difference to me. This is my first story... technically it's my fourth, but we'll call it my first.

First off: I don't own Naruto, Kishimoto does. Sadly.

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**Chapter 1: Walking Distance**

He walked. He simply walked, because he had nothing better to do. He had traveled all around the world, saw different and foreign lands, met new and different people along his travels, but now it all looks the same. The same grass, the same trees, the same specs of dirt on a path, the same water and sky. _Everything_ looks the same in his eyes, yet, he can't do anything about it.

His clothes never changed, always the same. Never changing. He had on a tattered brown cloak, with the hood up. The cloak serves as a reminder, to what he's hiding.

He's been walking for a long time. To him, it felt like an eternity. Maybe it was an eternity? Or, maybe it was only a few years? All he knew was that time had passed him by while he walked. The people he knew were gone, yet they were still here. They may be gone from the world, yet they still lived on. They lived on inside of him, he had memories of them, so they can never be truly gone.

Though he remembers his friends, and subsequently enemies, he wishes to forget. He wishes to forget his memories so that they may no longer cause him pain and heartache. His memories are the one of the only things he has left to tether him to this world. He has no real reason to walk along the Earth of the land, and yet, it's all he can do. Walk and get lost into his vast and often non-empty mind. To be able to forget nothing, yet remember everything, that is a curse unlike any other.

His memories also hold one other thing that had happened to him during his life. He had accomplished his dream. He became Hokage. That was his dream, his goal for the longest time, and one of the main reasons he pushed as hard as he did _when_ he was a Ninja. To become Hokage and protect everyone. To him, protecting everyone and becoming Hokage went hand in hand, a Hokage is supposed to protect everyone, so it made sense to him. He had accomplished his dream a long time ago, yet it only feels like yesterday that he was smiling while wearing the traditional Hokage hat and robes, while his face was being put up on the monument. His friends all around him, cheering, smiling, happy. Alive.

A far off memory that is a scattered dream, a scattered dream that is a far off memory. He terribly needs to forget his memories. He needs to forget so he can move on, and handle the one other thing that tethers him to this world.

There is one being alive that has been around as long as him. His constant comapanion. Kyūbi, or has he knew him, Kurama. Least, he thinks it's a him, he never was too sure. Kurama is the final fronteir, the final stop. The end of the beginning, yet also, he is the beginning of the end. The beginning was the sealing. The ending on the other hand, it may never come to him, because of Kurama. He always thought that the end would come from Kurama himself, yet it never came. Kurama has kept him alive for Kami knows how long. As for why? He speculated that it's the only reason for why Kurama did anything, because he can.

Guess the ending was being cursed to forevermore walk the Earth, unable to rest and unable to do anything but watch as the Earth advances, as people evolve and advance further. He will always be stuck in the past, with his friends. He will never be able to love someone new, be as happy and chipper as he once was, so long ago. No, he is bitter, and alone. Sad. All he wants is to be with his friends, to see them once more. To hear them laugh, bicker, fight. To see them smile, and have a good time. Even that teme, Sasuke. He still wants his rematch against him. One final fight. His final fight, that will never come.

He has not fought in many, many years, yet he is still clinging to that hope that by some damned miracle that he'll get his final fight. The last time he fought was against Sasuke, which he had lost, kind of horribly. Though, he also succeeded in fulfilling a promise he made to Sakura. He had gotten him back, with the help of his friends. That was his final promise that he had ever fulfilled. The final promise he kept.

How could anyone hope for immortality? How could anyone _want_ it? It's much more painful than anything else in existance. Sure, you don't die, and live forever... fuck that! He'd much rather be dead! You see all of your friends, family, loved ones all die. They all age, and grow old, while you don't age at all. You watch as every single last person you knew, die. They leave the Earth and go hang-out with each other in the afterlife. Soon, no one will know who you are. No one to know what kind of life you had, no one who knew your mannerisms, how you act, who you loved and hated. To them, you are just another person. To your friends who knew you, you were who you were, and more importantly, their friend. Someone who'd alway have your back and vice-a-versa.

No one to know you, no one to care. Making new bonds, and finding other friends would be painful, as well. You'd watch them all grow old, or die, while you are the way you are, forever. Soon, you'll be alone in plain sight. Solitude, loneliness even when surrounded by many people. No one can possibly comprehend what this Hell is.

Orochimaru was a damn fool.

What is there to do, but walk? That is all this one can do. Walk and see new people and still feel so terribly alone.

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His eyes open and continues his walk, he arrives in a place he'd been to before, buildings, offices, people. Nothing is different. _Everything_ is always the same.

He meanders along, getting lost in his memories, for the umpteenth time. He did get the one thing he asked for, though. He got peace and solace, he chuckled bitterly at that thought. He shakes his head and continues to walk.

_Crash._

He ran into someone, and the person is on the ground, "Gomen." he said quietly and hastily while stepping over the person and kept walking.

"Not even gonna help a lady up? Not gonna do anything?" she yells at the moving man.

He gives no response, nothing to show he even acknowedlged the yell, he shuts his eyes once more and keeps walking, trying to get away away from the yelling women.

The lady, on the other hand gets up, and picks her stuff up and runs after the man, and steps in front of him and yells, "What the Hell? Why didn't you help me?"

The man had two options: to say something or keep walking. He chose the latter of the options. He side-stepped the lady and kept walking.

She grabs his arm, and plants her feet in the ground. She apparently didn't like his option, "At least say sorry," she says.

He shakes his arm from her grap, "Gomen." he mutters quickly and quietly.

She smiles a bit, "There, now was that so hard?"

A nod comes, and she frowns a little, as he begins to walk.

"Who are you?"

She gets no answer, and is only rewarded with staring at his back as he walks away. The cloak flowing behind him as he takes each one of his steps, the flowing cloak reveals his blue sandals.

She sighed, "Fine, fine, be like that." she says a bit downtrodden as she turns around and walks to where she was going.

He keeps moving, and moving in what seems like an endless tandem motion. Right foot then left foot. Right foot then left foot. Sometimes to break up the tedium, he'd go; left foot then right foot. It might be a testament to his insanity, or just boredom.

He knows of no end in sight, so for the time being, and forever more. He walks. A gust of wind picks up, blowing his hood down revealing the opening of his right eye, and a mop of blonde hair. The cloak hides who he is. It hides the fact that he's Uzumaki Naruto.

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Aaand, voila! Done! It's just a simple one-shot based on a two or three sentence thing I made up a little bit ago. If enough people want me to, I could maybe turn this into something more than a one-shot. Somehow. Maybe.

Find this story by accident? By sheer luck? Like it? Hate it? Tell me what'cha think!

~A


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